CHAITEN — The volcanic eruption of 2008 almost obliterated the small town of Chaiten,…
Chilean Antipoet Awarded Cervantes Prize
ALCALÁ DE HENARES, SPAIN. – The Spanish Prince of Asturias yesterday awarded the prestigious Miguel de Cervantes prize to Nicanor Parra, who sent his grandson, Cristóbal Ugarte Parra, to pick up the prize due to his health problems impeding him from doing so. Upon awarding the prize, the prince praised the Chilean pioneer of antipoetry, calling [...]
President Piñera Starts Campaign “Read Chile Read”
SANTIAGO – The Chilean President, Sebastián Piñera accompanied the First Lady, Cecilia Morel and the Minister of Education, Harald Beyer and Minister for Arts and Culture, Luciano Cruz-Coke in the context of the celebration of the day of the book and participated on the start of the campaign with the aim to read for children. [...]
Chile Celebrates ‘Book Month’ in April
Events across the country have been planned to celebrate April as ‘book month’, or ‘el mes del libro’. These events will lead up to UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day on April 23, a day particularly important in the literary calendar as the anniversaries of the deaths of William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca [...]
Isabel Allende to Receive Award in Denmark
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – The renowned Chilean author Isabel Allende will travel to the Danish city of Odense in September this year to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award. Different than the traditional Hans Christian Andersen Award, this award, established in 2010, is given in recognition for an outstanding living author that resembles the iconic [...]
Gabriel García Márquez “celebrates” 85th birthday
MEXICO CITY – Five years ago, Gabriel García Márquez marked his 80th birthday, and there was a grand celebration in Colombia. There was a party with an 80-cannon salute and the Colombian government donated a million dollars towards the restoration of the house in which he was born in his home town of Aracataca. The [...]
Book Fair of Santiago opens in Chile with showcase of Bolivian literature
SANTIAGO — Tonight, Oct. 28, the 31st annual Book Fair of Santiago will play host to 400 to 500 writers from around the world for the next 17 days. The annual event highlights the culture of Latin America through the art of writing and for the first time, the event will host a digital book kiosk [...]
Por la Güeya del Matadero: Memories of the Cueca Centrina
A new book, along with a disk from the group “Los Chinganeros”, will reveal the social history of one of the most traditional neighborhoods of the capital: Barrio Franklin. Research from historians Araucaria Rojas and Karen Donoso brings to light unpublished documents and testimonies of Fernando Gonzalez Maraboli about the “Güeya” of the slaughterhouse in [...]
The right to know
On May 3rd each year, the international day of freedom of press is celebrated. This date gives pause to assess advances made – and ground lost – in the defence of the communications media and in attacks against its independence, and of course is a time to pay tribute to the journalists who have given [...]
Great Chileans: Oscar Hahn
Ben Angel Oscar Hahn was already one of the leading figures in Chilean poetry when he received the Pablo Neruda Iberoamericano poetry prize for 2011. Despite the fact that the prize carries Neruda’s name, this is only the second time that the award was given to a Chilean. The award-winning poet was born in 1938 [...]
Remembering Oscar Castro
Remembering one of Chile’s great poets and writers, Josefina Cabrera just finished launching a biography of Oscar Castro. The book launch took place on the 26th of March 2011 which just so-happened to be a day after Oscar Castro’s birthday. Cabrera who studied Oscar for about 2 years and recited many of his poems with [...]